If any of you arnt up to date on your cartoons, then one must peep this out

Several of my friends have for the last few years been trying to get me to watch this show. Bout a month ago, I finally broke down and watched the first season.

I was shocked and amazed by how good this show is

For those in the dark, heres the basic run down.

Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a fantasy world, home to humans, fantastic animals, and supernatural spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations—the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Within each nation exists an order called "Benders" who have the ability to manipulate their native element. These Bending arts combine a certain style of martial arts and elemental mysticism. The Bending types are Waterbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Airbending. [10]

In each generation, one person is capable of Bending all four elements; this is the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. When the current Avatar dies, they are reincarnated into a baby native in the next of the four nations in the Avatar Cycle, which parallels the seasons: winter for water, spring for earth, summer for fire, and autumn for air. [11] While legend holds that the Avatar must master the elements in order, starting with their native element, this can sometimes be compromised when the situation requires it. Learning to bend the element opposite one's native element is extremely difficult because opposing Bending arts are based on opposing fighting styles and doctrines. Firebending and Waterbending are opposites, as are Earthbending and Airbending. [12]

The Avatar possesses a unique power that resides within them, called the Avatar State. It is a defense mechanism that empowers the Avatar with the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatars. When the state is reached, the current Avatar will be able to wield the combined power of all past lives. When the Avatar enters this state, their eyes and mouth, and tattoos in the case of an Airbender, begin to glow. The glow is the representation of the energy of all the Avatar's previous incarnations focused through the current Avatar's body. However, if the Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, then the reincarnation cycle will be broken, and the Avatar cycle will end.[13]

Through the ages, countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony and maintain world order. [10] The Avatar also serves as the bridge between the physical world and the Spirit World, home of the world's disembodied spirits. [14]

A century prior to the series' opening, Aang, a 12-year-old Airbender of the Air Nomads' Southern Air Temple, learned from the elder monks that he was the Avatar. Usually, the Avatar is told of his or her true identity after turning sixteen; however, the monks feared that a war between the four nations was on the horizon and that soon the Avatar would be required to maintain balance and order in the world. Shortly thereafter, the monks decreed that Aang would be separated from his guardian, Monk Gyatso, and sent to the Eastern Air Temple to complete his training.

Confused, frightened, and overwhelmed by these recent events and his new responsibilities as the Avatar, Aang fled from his home on his flying bison, Appa. While traveling over frigid southern ocean waters, a sudden storm caused Appa to plunge deep into the sea. Aang unconsciously entered the Avatar State, and used a combination of Airbending and Waterbending to protect Appa and himself. By creating an air bubble around them and then freezing it, Aang was able to ensure that he and Appa could breathe and be protected from the storm until it dissipated. However, the storm transferred the bubble very near the south pole and it could not thaw, forcing the two of them into a state of suspended animation. [11]

The series opens one hundred years later, with the Fire Nation on the brink of victory in its imperialist war. All of the Air Nomads are believed to have been destroyed. The Water Tribes are in crisis — the Southern Water Tribe's warriors have left to wage war, leaving their home defenseless, while the Northern Water Tribe, though largely intact, is continually on the defensive. [15] The vast Earth Kingdom is now the only true barrier to the Fire Nation's conquest, but as the Fire Nation continues to encroach on its borders and conquer its territories, hopes of victory grow bleaker with each passing year.

Two teenage siblings from the Southern Water Tribe — Katara, an inexperienced Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka, a warrior and caretaker of the tribe — discover and free Aang and Appa from the iceberg. Aang soon discovers to his horror that, during his absence, a century-long war has been waged. The very year he vanished, Fire Lord Sozin took advantage of both the Avatar's absence and the Firebending-enhancing powers of a passing comet (later named "Sozin's Comet" in his honor) to launch a war on the other nations. [16] To Aang's shock and disbelief, the Fire Nation's opening gambit had been a genocidal assault on the Air Nomads. The Air Temples were stormed and the Airbenders slaughtered in the Fire Nation's effort to break the Avatar Cycle, leaving Aang as the last known Airbender in existence. [11]

As the Avatar, Aang's duty is to restore harmony and peace to the four nations. Along with his newly discovered friends Katara and Sokka, his flying bison Appa and his winged lemur Momo, and later the blind Earthbender Toph, Aang travels the world to master all four elements. During his quest, he must constantly avoid being captured by the banished Prince Zuko and, later, Zuko's cleverly deceptive and fiery sister, Princess Azula.

Although normally years of disciplined training are required to master a single Bending art, Aang must be a master of all four and defeat Fire Lord Ozai by summer's end, when the return of Sozin's Comet will give the Firebenders the power to win the war. If these events come to pass, not even the Avatar will possess the ability to restore balance to the world. [16]

For a Nickelodeon show, (a net work I've been in dispise of since they dumped Invader Zim) this is some heavy material

The plot and charecters are really fleshed out and well devleoped. Its on a kids network, but its not meandering and demaning to the audiance. People die, charecters grow, shit gose down!

The show has a very anime-esq look to it but it works perfectly for the tone.

Yeah, I just wanted to add to the Avatar love in here. I seriously cannot get enough of this show. The characters are so well written and always true to their personality in any given situation. The story is wonderful and I laugh my ass off.

If someone is considering giving it a go, I suggest watching at least half way through season 1. By then if you aren't hooked then you're insane. But it takes a few episodes to really get to know the characters. I don't normally like cartoons, but this is not written like your average cartoon. I just can't imagine anyone NOT liking this show.

July is too far away. I am having Sokka withdrawals!

Did anyone else get stupidly excited when Aang FINALLY kissed Katara? Ep 310 which was the last one I saw. I heard that there are 4 others that have not yet been shown in the states.

I also heard this is the end of the show (July). Does anyone else have any firm answer to that?

Yeah, I just wanted to add to the Avatar love in here. I seriously cannot get enough of this show. The characters are so well written and always true to their personality in any given situation. The story is wonderful and I laugh my ass off.

If someone is considering giving it a go, I suggest watching at least half way through season 1. By then if you aren't hooked then you're insane. But it takes a few episodes to really get to know the characters. I don't normally like cartoons, but this is not written like your average cartoon. I just can't imagine anyone NOT liking this show.

July is too far away. I am having Sokka withdrawals!

Did anyone else get stupidly excited when Aang FINALLY kissed Katara? Ep 310 which was the last one I saw. I heard that there are 4 others that have not yet been shown in the states.

I also heard this is the end of the show (July). Does anyone else have any firm answer to that?

Well... what a great ending for a fantastic show. There's heaps that I want to talk about but I don't know if I'll be able to splutter it all out.

Firstly... best recap episode ever! Such a creative and entertaining way to remind the audience of Ang's journey as well as preparing us for the ultimate finally. I really appreciated not being spoon fed what we all ready know and using a stage dramatization as the medium for the retelling was a really nice change. The writers knew that they didn't have to retell you the more recent episodes either which was refreshing.

There will be spoilers kids so if you haven't seen it look away.

So we join back with Ang at the Western Air temple right after Zuko joins the gang to teach Ang Firebending. The flowing adventure (or the 2.5 hours I watched tonight) finishes up just about every story arc set up in throughout the series and brings us to the decisive battles for the rule of the Fire kingdom, and the freedom of the world. There are some amazingly detailed battle scenes in these groups of episodes with extended and massive fire bending massacres due to the coming of a comet. The battles (Zuko v Azula and Ang v Firelord Ozai) are truly epic and there are some pretty heavy Anime inspirations in a whole stack of the scenes. The full emotional scale of what Ang's destiny is asking him to do (in killing the firelord) is so heavy for any normal children's cartoon but it does it in a way that is mature and handles it with care and insite. I really enjoyed the way that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko rounded it all off.

Sure there's a bit of an opening for other projects and the movies on the way ( I will kill Shyamalan if he fucks with this ) but we have closure and it's something that is only possible with this series being able to run it's course so pip pip to Nickelodeon you did a great job and it'll pay you back in folds. I really love this show and I really loved the finale. It reminds me of me feelings for the Lost Cities of Gold and Astro Boy in the humanity and growth of every major character. I will be buying it for myself as well as showing it to my children, even if that's twenty years from now.

I must admit, I probably would have tapped her and Taf at the same time. Yummy.

Well, after the skim through the final the other day, I've finally got to watch the entire thing. As I said with arrested development, if the show ends here, I'm completely satisfied. This final is one of the best written things on tv, especially within the confines of a family show. Aang's tortured decision on having to kill the Fire lord, Azula's decent in to madness! and Iroh taking back Ba Sing Se Prime stuff. And the action! The battle with between the Fire Lord and Avatar Aang was phenomenal! It seemed like the guys that made the show were trying to one up Lucas with this attempt at filming a big fight over a Volcano...

Fantastic show and I hope to high hell that M Night lets the writers of this show pump out the screen play.